Body Image Perception among Undergraduate Female Medical Students in Mangalore: A Cross Sectional Study
Journal Title: International Journal of Preventive, Curative & Community Medicine - Year 2018, Vol 4, Issue 1
Abstract
Background: Body image is the dynamic perception of one’s body. Body image perception depends on anthropometric and psychological factors. Body dissatisfaction is influenced by the socio-cultural environment and is associated with eating disorders and low self-esteem. Ojectives: To study the body image perception among undergraduate female students in a medical college. Materials And Methods: It is a cross-sectional study conducted among 239 undergraduate female medical students. It was conducted during December 2015-January 2016 in one of the medical colleges in Mangalore. A 34 item Body Shape Questionnaire(BSQ) along with the details on socio-demography was collected using a validated questionnaire. The 34-item BSQ measures body image concern through a 6-point Likertscale. The scores are classified into 4 categories: satisfied (not worried) about body shape (<81), slightly worried (81 - 110), moderately worried (111 - 140), and extremely worried (>140). The data so obtained was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: Median age of the students was 20 years.64% of them were in the age group of 20-26 years.50% of them were from Karnataka. According to the BSQ it was seen that up to 32.6% were dissatisfied with themselves. No association was noted between the body image perception and place of origin or age groups of the subjects. But a significant association was noted between body image perception and subjects avoiding communal changing rooms and self consciousness. Conclusion: With adequate health education people can be made aware that being dissatisfied with their body images could lead to adverse health events like anorexia nervosa and bulimia. A number of potential factors that may help to protect against negative body image or prevent negative body image exist.
Authors and Affiliations
Dr. RP Singh
Keywords
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- EP ID EP285049
- DOI 10.24321/2454.325X.201803
- Views 105
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